Westcoast Atari layoffs?

Looks like one of the icons in videogaming is laying off a sizable chunk of westcoast staff. According to one insider, Atari, publisher of many classic videogames of yore, is letting go of marketing staff from their Santa Monica and Beverly offices - centralizing operations out of the east coast locations. To ad a bit of perspective to the layoffs...the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), an annual orgy of videogaming goodness, is cued up to run in May. One wonders why Atari would lay off staff going into the biggest show of the year. Source: Secret Internal Contact Categories: Atari, Video, Games, Computer, Console, PC, Layoff, Job, Employment, E3, Marketing, PR

Enhancing Blogger - Categories - the Techno-l.icio.us way..

One drawback of Blogger (the service hosting amazing.bradblog is the lack of Categories. Sure, I've been hacking around it with Technorati tags, but it's not been entirely the best way to do it. Then today, I stumbled accross a cool page that lets me create Technorati and Del.icio.us tags in one swell foop! Check the link below and the Tags created with the bookmarklet. Source: technorati and delicious tagging Categories: Technorati, Tag, bookmarklet, categories, delicioius, tags

On-line era leaves media out of loop: PR expert

Whilst scanning the papers today I came across this article discussing the role of the corporate and PR blogger, and how they need to adopt the values of traditional Jouranlists:

Richard Edelman, president and chief executive officer of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, said that as PR practitioners rely less on the media to get messages out, they need to act more like journalists.

"The responsibility of PR people today has grown because we're not necessarily going through the media as a screen," said Mr. Edelman, who was in Toronto recently to discuss the company's survey on corporate trust.

"If we're just putting stuff up [on the Internet] and people are reading it and accepting it as truth, then we should have a journalist-level quality as our objective instead of a promoter objective."

Globe and Mail Technorati Tags: Blog, Journalism, truth, trust, PR, Media, Marketing, Writer, Writing

Oh, the pain!

Yeah, nobody's going to feel sorry for me but I'm in pain today. The cause is my foolish desire to run 8km at the local indoor track...the longest I've run in six months. This silliness is compounded by my lack of any real exercise in the last six weeks. Yeah, I'm a doof. The one upside is, I feel like I've accomplished something. Sure, it's not like completing a race like we did last year at the Melissa's run in Banff, but I'm on the road back. For you new runners reading this, I've linked a few online resources that have helped me over the last few years. ...limping back to my foot bath. The Running Room, Cool Running's Couch-to-5k plan , The Great Human Race, Melissa's Road Race 2005 Technorati Tags: running, race, 5k, 8k, 10k, melissa's, banff, alberta, canada, fitness, marathon

Back! Up yer Tractor!! Yuh-Harrrrrrr!!!

Well shiver me timbers...the Tractor is back. Edmonton's party/beer-drinkin-band, Captain Tractor, recently completed their latest album, North of the Yellowhead. For those of you outside the Edmonton area, the Yellowhead is a highway that bisects the North end of Edmonton. I grew up there. The name-sake tune, North of the Yellowhead, implies that it's a rough place. Find out for yourself. But hey, the Tractor launched a new website, and is making available some classic Tractor Tunes:

• Another Drinking Song - Quite possibly the best Tractor song ever.
• Frozen Puck to the Head - The CBC says "The best hockey song ever written".
• 99 Luftballoons - Chris sings authentic 80's German pop.
• Gwenivere - Like a chick movie... in song... done by men...
• The Last Saskatchewan Pirate - Some classic Tractor.
• The Logdriver's Waltz - A piece of Canadiana.

And they've got a video on the same page. Oh, yeah, they're also launching their own line of Beer. Source: Captain Tractor Technorati Tags: Captain, Tractor, Music, Free, MP3, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Yellowhead, North

Customize your Google News - or anything else Google!

Whilst reading my blogline subs this am, I noticed a cool post to a Firefox hack that 'enhances' your Google search experience. Note, I had to tweak the Javascript code a tiny bit because Google.ca sites weren't being 'butler'ed properly. Butler does the following:

• removes ads on most Google pages
• fixes fonts on most Google pages
• Google web search:
  • adds links to other search sites ("Try your search on...")
  • in news results, adds links to other news sites
  • in movie results, adds links to other movie sites
  • in weather results, adds links to other weather sites
  • in product results, adds links to other product sites
• Google image search:
  • adds links to other image/photo/art sites
• Google News:
  • adds links to other news sites
• Froogle:
  • adds links to other product sites
• Google Print:
  • Removes image copying restrictions
  • adds links to other book sites
• Google Toolbar Firefox page:
  • adds links to other Firefox-friendly toolbars

Source: Butler Technorati Tags: Butler, Javascript, Google, Search, Enhancement, Code, Programming, Firefox, Tweak

Customize your Google News.

Doing the work I do requires me to scan news daily. Google News is making that very easy for me:

1) visit Google.ca, Click on the link at the very top of the page called Customized News. Open the box in the right-hand column. Tweak the page layout to your liking. Create new sections based on keywords...such as GeoCaching, Video Gaming, Fundraising, Marketing...etc. Adjust layout of those new sections to taste. The new Google News page will contain those news stories. 2) Under the Top Stories Column on the left - click on News Alerts. Set up custom, keyword based, email news alerts. News stories that meet the keyword criteria will be emailed to you. You can also have them emailed to your cell phone if you have SMS capability.

Source: Google News Technorati Tags: News, Google, Customize, Layout, Marketing, PR

O'Reilly Network: An Interview with Cory Doctorow

An Interview with Cory Doctorow by Richard Koman -- Cory Doctorow fits the old adage: "Need something done? Ask a busy person." The European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a co-editor of Boing Boing, and a renowned science fiction writer, Cory is also on tap to speak at O'Reilly's upcoming Emerging Technology Conference. In this interview, Cory talks about his latest book and his work as a science fiction writer.

Source: O'Reilly Network Interview Technorati Tags: Interview, Free, Speech, EFF, Writer, Author, O'Reilly, Doctorow

Interesting news on the PR front...

Association Magazine popped out these two little gems of wisdom relating to PR and the Inter-hype. Association Magazine: February - March 2005 - Website Myths: Fact & Fiction is a list (and everyone loves lists right) of common sense items people and organizations should take into consideration when using/building/considering a website. The second, article Virtual Pressrooms – The Media's Window into Your World leads you briefly into the needs of the Press...what they want and how you can provide it with a virtual pressroom. Curiously - neither article discusses weblogs...too bad, because they *are* the force in PR currently. Source: Association Magazine Technorati Tags: Public, Relations, Website, Media, Press, Room, PR, Tips, List, Myths, Blog, Blogging